10. Léon and Marie Arsenault

Before Léon bought his truck, he often went to town by horse and sometimes by train from Wellington or by boat from Maximeville. One of his most memorable trip to Summerside was after the death of Aunt Julie Pitre (Gonzague's sister) on 18 March 1924. Uncle Pete relates this story which has become part of the local folklore:

She was André Pitre's mother. Father had gone to town to bring the remains home after she died. On the way back, he lost her, she had fallen off the sleigh. There were large snow banks. She had fallen off around here [close to the corner in Abram's Village] and he hadn't notice it. When he arrived at Uncle Joe Catline's place, he went in to get warm, and he told Uncle Joe to come out and see what he had in the sleigh. And when they got there, she was gone! They then took a lantern and went to search for her. They found her on the side of the road. She was in a coffin, of course. The coffin had slid off the sleigh.

Father told that story now and then, especially after having a drink. I think that he had been drinking that day. To drive from Summerside by horse in those days, it was a long way. It was some 20 miles.

She had died in the hospital in Summerside. My father always kept good horses and he would often go to Summerside by horse, and André had come to ask him to bring his mother home. That's how it happened.

Léon often told about how he had gone to help in the reconstruction of Halifax after the gigantic explosion that had destroyed a part of the city in the fall of 1917. He was in Summerside when news of the disaster reached the Island. He volunteered on the spot, as did many other Islanders, to go to Nova Scotia as part of the relief effort. Time didn't allow him to return to Maximeville, so he simply called home to tell his wife that he was immediately taking the train to Halifax. He remained there for a part of the winter while Marie stayed home with her eight children. Emily was the baby at that time.

_ The Maximeville School in 1937.

_ Built in 1899, it was located across

the road from Léon and Marie's home.

All of their children attended that school

and some of the teachers boarded at their place.